[Viva] HIV/AIDS Legal Network meeting

Sun Jun 12 21:08:14 PDT 2011

oops, sorry for the bombardment of emails but to Kath:  I am not on the
iphone or smart phone with Twitter.. I tweet totally from my computer online
and in a few days I will give you all instructions on how to do this so that
you can join the community of tweeters.  I have to say that the PWN tweeter
is fantastic and she does a great job.  If you do nothing else, you need to
follow her as a first step but more about that later.
Denise

On Sat, Jun 11, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Kath Webster <kathwebster at shaw.ca> wrote:

> Denise,
>
> Thanks so much for this very comprehensive report on the Legal network
> meeting.  You could make this into a Living Positive article!  Many very
> critical issues.  You are passionate and articulate so an ideal person to be
> involved with the network.  Just curious, are you on their board or in what
> way are you involved?
>
>
>
> Thanks for the encouragement around Twitter too.  I had thought  that if
> you don’t have an iphone or smart phone (meaning the internet at your finger
> tips), then there’s no point in getting into Twitter.  Do you think it’s
> still useful for those of us who just use our computers to go online?
>
> Kath
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* viva-bounces at lists.resist.ca [mailto:viva-bounces at lists.resist.ca]
> *On Behalf Of *Denise Becker
> *Sent:* June-11-11 12:02 PM
> *To:* viva
> *Subject:* [Viva] HIV/AIDS Legal Network meeting
>
>
>
> I thought some of you might like feedback on the meeting I attended between
> Wednesday and Friday.  I will try to lay it out in point form so you can
> read it a little easier:
>
>
>
> 1.  HIV and the Media
>
>
>
> There was a workshop of the media and how HIV is being covered these days.
>  The people speaking were very interesting and included a CBC reporter, a
> French reporter for Radio Canada, the Managing Editor for the Global
> Network, the tweeter for the Toronto Star and the tweeter for Pozitive Lite,
> which is a blog for positive people and is run by Bob Leahy from Ontario.
>  Incidentally, I talked to Bob during the meeting and I have also tweeted to
> him on Twitter.  He has let me know he would like me to blog for them once a
> week so that they get a woman's perspective.
>
>
>
> The media panel talked about the apathy surrounding HIV by the general
> public these days and they also talked about how they worked with the Legal
> Network to get the story out on Bill C393 and Access to Medicines in Africa.
>
>
>
> I told them I was consistently seeing "good news" stories about research
> and yet they seemed to be reporting "bad news" stories on individuals and
> this makes it difficult for people to get over the stigma and get out with
> their brave stories of fighting the disease.  I also told them that I felt
> there is a thin line between reporting the news and making the news, i.e.
> when are they actually reporting and when are they swaying public opinion?
>
>
>
> They said they are very concerned when they report stories and see stupid
> comments after them and because of their journalistic viewpoint they cannot
> add their voice to comments when they know many of the comments are from
> ignorant people who demonize HIV and don't understand it.
>
>
>
> I had a good chat with the lady from CBC and the French reporter afterwards
> and they wanted to keep in touch.
>
>
>
> Bob, from Pozitive Lite and Ken Buchanan from Positive Living BC and I
> discussed "coming out" with your status and we all agreed it was a very
> difficult thing to do but none of us had regretted it and we felt we were
> now fighting the stigma with our contributions at conferences.
>
>
>
> I cannot emphasize enough how important Twitter is getting now and how many
> people who tweet think of Facebook as "old school".  The good thing is you
> can tweet with total anonymity since you can choose a false name (the term
> for this is a "handle") and no one knows when you are online.  If you want
> to get into HIV conversations and want to be anonymous, this could be the
> way to go, just don't be put off with your first experience of Twitter and
> try to stay with it.  I will be sending you all an email soon on how to get
> on to Twitter, use it, make friends with people who are HIV+ and get the
> latest research.
>
>
>
> 2.  Criminalization of HIV
>
>
>
> There is an important case going on right now.  It is a case which has a
> press embargo on it and so there is very little that can be said in the
> media that we can hear about.  All I know is that it is a case in which the
> viral load of the person is being taken into account when they did not
> inform their sex partner that they were HIV+.  The court is examining
> whether the argument can be used anymore that a person has malicious intent
> when not revealing their HIV status if they are undetectable and whether
> they are likely to pass on the virus.  There was a win for those who argued
> that there was no malicious intent because there was no infection and that
> it the undetectable viral load meant the person was not acting in a way that
> meant to kill someone.  The Crown has decided to appeal the ruling to the
> Supreme Court and I believe the case will be heard on Monday.  It is pretty
> exciting to find out what will happen and the lawyer was there who was
> arguing the case and discussed his strategy so far.
>
>
>
> 3.  Insite
>
>
>
> There were lawyers at the workshop who are arguing the Insite case, where
> the downtown supervised injection site has come under attack from the
> Federal Government.  In addition, Vandu were at the meeting and discussing
> what action they have taken and how the site is working and saving lives.
>  The argument here is that the site is saving lives and doing no harm.  This
> may take a while to finally get a decision but David Eby, a civil rights
> lawyer was talking about how ridiculous it was that Insite is being attacked
> when it will not put an end to shooting up and it is actually a point of
> education and assistance for many wanting to get away from drug use.
>
>
>
> 4.  Sex Trade Workers
>
>
>
> There was a lady from Montreal talking about sex trade work and in
> particular the Pickton Trial.  This has made it a good time to start
> advocating for women who have to put themselves at risk by hiding out in
> order to do their work and the risk this puts them in.  She talked about how
> she got involved with sex work and that she was not pushed into it but
> rather started it at 26 years of age in order to put herself through
> university.  She made a joke about the University actually profiting off the
> avails of street work! hah!  She told of the precautions she takes when she
> meet a guy and he comes to her apartment and she sounded like an extremely
> clever lady who is protecting herself very well.  I was very impressed with
> what a wonderful advocate this lady was for her trade and she said that not
> all women want to get off the street because of the declaration of income
> and freedom it gives them but others do and they should be accommodated and
> not made into criminals!
>
>
>
> That is all I can think of for now and if you want to ask me any questions
> or know more, then I would love to hear from you.
>
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Denise
> ------------------------------
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